


enervate

by appleofmyrye



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Coping, Genius Shuri (Marvel), Grief/Mourning, M/M, Meant To Be, Mentions of Time Travel, theoretical physics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 14:53:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14854878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/appleofmyrye/pseuds/appleofmyrye
Summary: People process their grief in different ways, and this is his - working and working and working until whatever he’s worried about has either resolved itself or he has created a way to solve the problem.





	enervate

Bruce has come to a couple of conclusions:

1\. The current situation is very, very dire.  
2\. There has to be a solution to the situation.  
3\. The only solution he’s been able to come up with involves time travel.

He’s currently trying to invent a time machine. He’s not going it alone - Tony and Shuri are helping him, but the work is still slow going.

(Tony had arrived a few days after the world ended in a ship with a blue cyborg women, all blood and sweat and angst rolling off of him in immeasurable waves. The wizard and the kid hadn’t been with him.

He hadn’t said a word, just stalked towards the city in what remained of the suit. Bruce wasn’t even going to ask how Tony found them.)

It’s more like the two of them are helping Shuri - she’s a leading expert in fields he doesn’t even have PhD’s in, and the sheer force of her brilliance is awe-inspiring. 

If they had been able to use what she knows years ago, the world would have been a safer place. They probably would not have had to go through the entire Ultron experience, which is one of the worse memories of his life.

He’s ignoring the fact that she would have been thirteen at the time - she could have probably schooled him anyway.

All of the technology she has invented herself, the stuff that is considered commonplace in a country that has been kept secret for years, is so breathtakingly complicated it puts the last 50 years of Nobel prize winners to shame. Bruce is smart enough to keep up with her and understand everything she’s saying, but some of the things Shuri says are connections he’s never made in his life. Her theories on quantum chromodynamics are simultaneously complex and perfectly clear, among other things.

However, she’s never had to use a time machine before, so there isn’t one in Wakanda and not even her genius can create one right off the bat. With Shuri, him, and Tony, they may be able to figure it out in months, if not years.

Or maybe Doctor Who’s been right this whole time, and time traveling aliens will just appear and help them.

With their luck, any kinds of aliens like that disappeared with the snap.

Machinery isn’t his ballpark anyway - he’s helping with the theoretical aspects more than the machine bits. You can’t build a time machine without figuring out how it’s going to work, which is why Bruce is staring at equation after equation as if if he tilts his head differently the answer will come to him.

Three hours of sleep is not enough to figure out how to fix the world. Three hours of sleep is not enough to do anything.

“Banner.”

Bruce starts, scattering machine parts all over the lab surface. “Jesus Christ- Oh, it’s you. What are you doing?”

Thor hovers in the doorway, strangely awkward - it’s definitely not his domain. “Stark is upstairs, drinking like he needs it to survive. Ms. Panther has been asleep for hours. You are still down here.”

“So?”

“Have you been sleeping at all?”

“I- no, but-“

“Banner, go to sleep.”

“I have to fix this. We have to fix this.” Bruce takes his glasses off, scrubs a hand through his hair.

“Everyone else you are working with is not here, and can you even do anything on that level of sleep?”

“Yeah- No- Will you listen to me for a minute? My head is screaming four different layers of theories and ideas with no one to express them to for hours.”

“I can listen.”

If he had said no, he would be hearing the theories anyway: Bruce’s brain is about to explode. “Good. Good. Ok- the three of us know- we all think that one of our only ways to fix is to go back in time, take the stones from our past selves. The Wizard has the green one, time, I think -“

“You know the wizard?”

“Yes. Not going to ask how you know him. Loki had the Tesseract back when the Chitauri invaded New York, and Vision’s was in the scepter. So two birds with one stone, unless we want to grab the mind stone after Wanda gains everything. We might be able to save Pietro, if we waited.” 

(Would new Pietro even be on their side, or would he be the way he was before the twins realized Ultron’s corruption?

That’s a whole other can of worms.)

“If you take the stone from 2012, Ultron will never have to be created and Sokovia would still exist.”

“Exactly. But assuming we can use a gauntlet of our own to get everyone back, we need Wanda. Did you see her on the field? She destroyed an infinity stone with one hand, while holding back Thanos, while having a breakdown. We need her. She could challenge you for title of strongest avenger.”

Thor shifts on his feet. “Not true.”

“You and I haven’t been on Earth in over two years. I think you would be surprised how much things have changed.”

“Does she have an axe?”

“No.“

“How can she be the strongest avenger then?”

“She doesn’t need one. Neither do you. Can we move on?”

“Fine.”

“Power is with the Nova corp, circa 2014 - at least, that’s what Nebula said. She also said we can find the Soul Stone on Vormir. A planet?”

“I know where it is. It’s not a pleasant place.”

“Great. We still need to figure out where the red one came from-“

“Reality. It would be with the Collector.”

“Nebula mentioned that as a place to get the power stone from, if we wished to get it at an earlier time. That’s another two birds with one stone.”

“This sounds like a solid plan - what’s the problem?”

It’s a huge problem. They can’t do anything without solving the problem, but the problem does not want to be solved. “We don’t actually have a time machine. We have a hypothetical plan. And until we figure everything out, until we figure out the physics behind an actual time machine, we are stuck here with no way of undoing what can actually be considered the end of the world as we know it.”

“Time is flexible. Whenever you create the machine, the times you need to go to will still be there. You can go to sleep now, Banner. Nothing will change.”

Yes, time will still be there, but this is something else. He doesn’t know how to put it into words. People process their grief in different ways, and this is his - working and working and working until whatever he’s worried about has either resolved itself or he has created a way to solve the problem. Bruce cannot stop working. He must work and work and work until everything is perfect in the world again. 

(Things in the world are never perfect, but with the way his life works feeling at least a little bit in control is a better drug than heroin.)

“If I can’t hulk out, I have to do what I actually can do, which is this.” Bruce absently waves at the lab station. “I can’t stop until I fix everything.”

“You can at least take a break.”

“I can’t. It’s how I’m coping.” And if this is how he is coping, then- “How are you coping?”

“Why do you ask?”

Because the thunder rumbles across the country every night. Because the air crackles with unspent electricity in random moments.

“You’ve lost everything.”

“So has everyone else.”

And it’s true, if Bruce thinks about it. All of the people here have lost someone they care about, some more than others. Tony had told stories about the people on the planet, Thanos’s planet, and how they had all turned to dust. Rocket had to leave the building.

Maybe he is being a little bit selfish, thinking his suffering is needed to fix everyone.

Thor reaches for him, pulls him away from the lab. “Can you take a break from your coping style? Will you go to sleep now?”

“Will you come with me?” It’s not an odd question. The whole experience before Thanos is not super clear in his mind - there are intermittent bursts of Sakaar and Asgard, coupled with a haze of confusion. The only constant in all of it is Thor, hands on his shoulders or his wrists or his hands. 

It feels only natural for them to be together all of the time.

“Always.”

They make an odd pair - the god and the scientist - but they fit.

The world has already ended, and they’re going to fix it. Maybe not now, maybe not for months, or years. But the survivors? They’re going to figure it out. 

And it’s not going to be alone, either. Bruce looks down, entwines his fingers with Thor’s, smiles. They’re coping.

And as long as they keep coping, everything’s gonna be ok.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr: @incorrect-thruce


End file.
